Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have been hesitant to criticize Trump’s presidency during his first two months in office, because a ship can’t take on water until it sails.

But now the ship of the Trump state has left the harbor, and the early reports are not good. There is panic on the bridge.

One early warning is that the Devil has dropped the price of Republican souls to eleven cents a unit. So many have sold theirs, tying their fates to the president, despite his mortal sins of false witness and rampant untruthfulness, that the market has crashed. GOP souls are a drug on the market.read more

Like almost every pundit and prognosticator alive, I was totally wrong about Trump; I thought he’d burn out in a few months. But unlike most of my fellow scribes, I should have known better.

Writers tend to be a highly educated bunch, schooled in fine universities, equipped with the best that academia has to offer.

Not me. I was a Tin Man. Anything that could be sold in the home, I sold. Encyclopedias, aluminum windows, adjustable beds, vinyl siding, home security systems and cheap roof jobs: I knew how that game worked and I was pretty good at it.read more

The two party system of American politics has become the two party systemic dysfunction of political gridlock.

The parties created the grid. Now there are signs that it’s beginning to break up.

Exhibit one is Donald Trump. He is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party. But Donald Trump is a Republican like the leader of the Chinese Communist party, Xi Jinping, is a communist.

But this is not a column about Donald Trump. Though I can’t help but notice that Karl Marx saw Trump coming 150 years ago when he wrote: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Way to nail it, Karl.read more

Diversity has become a civic virtue. Politicians, businesses, sports teams, the Oscars, all must heed the siren calls for diversity or pay the price.

Diversity is a good thing; I’m not arguing against it. Groups long-excluded need the moral push of diversity to help them claim their fair share of the American Dream.

But diversity can run away with itself and become divergence. When the Black Lives Matter protestors boo a Democratic candidate for saying “all lives matter,” when Native Americans and Native Hawaiians want to secede and become separate powers, diversity is derailed.read more

Don’t let the rainy days fool you, my friends. Spring training has begun in sunny Arizona; the baseball season is coming on fast!

But before I can sit back and enjoy opening day, I need to clear up some space on my hard drive and make room for line drives.

To mix metaphors, and why not this silly spring, my mental attic is overstuffed with political rubbish, dimwitted talking points, and other election year residue. It’s time to take out the trash.

Let me begin with the Republicans’ foolishness in rejecting Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in advance. What are they thinking? They’re either going to nominate Donald Trump, who can’t beat Hillary, or go to a brokered convention, where they’ll pick some guy the voters rejected who can’t beat Hillary. So why would they want to blow their last chance to have a moderate justice selected by a moderate president Obama?read more

We have come to the end of another year, a time when tradition says we should celebrate. But that’s coming a little harder for me this season.

I couldn’t even watch South Park the night of the San Bernardino shootings. It didn’t feel right watching my favorite TV comedy that day. I didn’t want to laugh.

I made it through this difficult year and so did you. We should be happy about that. But there is so much agony in the world, and recently in our fair state, that celebrating feels inappropriate.read more

Once again, San Franciscans have endured another meaningless election with uninspired candidates and petty propositions. It is too late to do anything about the insipid choices we were presented with this year.

But it is not too soon to think about next November. The people of San Francisco can do something real, dramatic and uplifting in 2016. We can enact proposition G: Pave the Streets with Gold.

Since before biblical times, mankind has dreamt of a city with endless prosperity, uniquely blessed by the Gods, a mythological place where the streets are paved with gold. It is now in our power to make that myth an inspiring reality.read more

In our increasingly oversensitive nation, there are few insulting stereotypes that are socially acceptable. One conspicuous exception is “privileged.” You can be called that with impunity and you’re supposed to like it.

Privilege is a code word. We all know what we’re talking about. White male privilege.

What is white male privilege? Well, unlike white females, say, we can act tough and all without being called a bitch. That is true enough, but I would also point out we can’t act too sensitive without being called a sissy. Even white male privilege has its limits.read more